Smartphone makers bow to demands for more openness

For many Android enthusiasts, "openness" is almost an 11th commandment. So …

For many Android enthusiasts, "openness" is almost an 11th commandment. So when manufacturers began restricting full access to Android smartphones a couple years ago, many saw it as a cardinal sin. Good news for you smartphone modders: some manufacturers are beginning to see the light.

"Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices," wrote HTC CEO Peter Chou in a Facebook post on Thursday evening. "There has been overwhelmingly [sic] customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones."

Essentially, the bootloader is like the backstage area where preparation for a show goes down. When you first turn on a phone, the bootloader is the program that loads the operating system software into a phone's memory and then launches the OS. If your bootloader is unlocked, you can gain "root access" to your phone, which allows for full administrative privileges. That means more control over what's on your device.

For many Android phone owners, "openness" is a major draw to the platform. Google's open-source operating system software is published publicly for all to peruse. The Android Market doesn't require a vetting process for app submissions like Apple's App Store does. And being able to modify an Android device via unlocking the bootloader has been very attractive to phone geeks.

HTC has long been seen as a relatively modder-friendly phone manufacturer. Although many of their phones have had locked bootloaders, workarounds were easy enough for software developers to spot in order to gain superuser access to their phones.

That changed recently, however, when modders discovered that two new Android phones—the HTC Sensation and Evo 3D—would come with software that prohibited bypassing locked bootloaders.

"The system was locked but exploitable before," Android enthusiast Irwin Proud told Wired.com in an interview. "Suddenly they required signature checks," or digital verification of software that allows it to load. An Android activist, Proud has organized online campaigns to fight against locked-down phone releases.

After hearing this, the modding community wasn't happy. Users launched WakeUpHTC.com, a website which gave upset modders all of HTC's contact info, encouraging them to bombard the company with requests for a change in its bootloader policy. On Thursday, the company relented.

However, HTC wouldn't tell Wired.com which of its upcoming phones would be unlocked upon release.

Following in Motorola's footsteps

The HTC bootloader saga played out much as it did with another Android manufacturer: Motorola.

"When the [Motorola] Droid X was first released," says Proud, "people were disappointed to hear that there was a software and hardware component that blocked them from flashing custom kernels," which means modifying the layer of software between the hardware and the operating system.

After users complained about Motorola's policy via YouTube, a Motorola employee retorted with a not-so-PR-friendly response: “If you want to do custom roms [i.e. modification software], then buy elsewhere, we’ll continue with our strategy that is working thanks.”

The Motorola employee's comment was picked up by multiple Android blogs, inciting developer outrage. Motorola later apologized for the comment. But after finding out his newly purchased Motorola's Atrix came with a locked bootloader, Irwin Proud decided an apology wasn't enough. He started an online petition at Groubal.com, urging Motorola to change its bootloader policy. The petition garnered closed to 10,000 signatures.

In April, the company finally caved. “Motorola will enable an unlockable/relockable bootloader, currently found on Motorola Xoom, in future software releases where carrier and operator partners will allow it,” Motorola said in a statement provided to Wired.com. “It is our intention to include the unlockable/relockable bootloader in software releases starting in late 2011.”

The more things change...

Motorola and HTC aren't the only two companies to start warming up to modders.

Sony Ericsson's 2011 Xperia line releases—the Play, the Arc, the Pro and the Neo—all come with unlockable bootloaders. The company even launched a website with detailed directions on how to unlock its phones.

LG's recent G2X also comes with an easily unlocked bootloader, as does its U.K. counterpart, the Optimus 2X.

But not everyone is convinced we're undergoing a sea change in bootloader policies. Koushik Dutta, the creator of the very popular ClockworkMod, a program which lets you install custom modification software on your phone, remains wary.

"I am highly skeptical as to whether HTC actually has the influence to enforce such a broad unlock policy," Dutta told Wired.com in an interview. "They don't control what ships on their phones, carriers do."

And the carriers have the biggest incentive to prohibit unlocked phones. When users root their devices, they always run the risk of "bricking" their phone, essentially rendering them useless. This often results in requests for returns and replacement devices, a headache for carriers to deal with.

Even more than this, it's about controlling carrier's revenue sources. Installing a custom modification like CyanogenMod gives a user the ability to tether other devices to their phone, a service that carriers want to block unless you're paying them a monthly fee. Further, Google pays carriers a cut of the app sales made on the Android Market, which gives carriers incentive to restrict which apps are allowed on phones. Until recently, AT&T didn't allow its users to "sideload" apps onto its phones that came from sources other than the official Android Market.

"That's why the Motorola unlock announcement came with a caveat," reminds Dutta. "We will unlock all our phones on carriers that allow us to do so."

Ultimately, modders don't care who is responsible for unlocking the phones or why—they just want their phones unlocked.

Rhane Thomas, an Android user, summed it up quite nicely on HTC's Facebook page "What I want is a highly capable and flexible operating system."